About Odin, {Norse God}

Odin

Mythological version - Odin as a god

by Micha F. Lindemans

The chief divinity of the Norse pantheon, the foremost of the Aesir. Odin is a son of Bor and Bestla. He is called Alfadir, Allfather, for he is indeed father of the gods. With Frigg he is the father of Balder, Hod, and Hermod. He fathered Thor on the goddess Jord; and the giantess Grid became the mother of Vidar.

Odin is a god of war and death, but also the god of poetry and wisdom. He hung for nine days, pierced by his own spear, on the world tree. Here he learned nine powerful songs, and eighteen runes. Odin can make the dead speak to question the wisest amongst them. His hall in Asgard is Valaskjalf ("shelf of the slain") where his throne Hlidskjalf is located. From this throne he observes all that happens in the nine worlds. The tidings are brought to him by his two raven Huginn and Muninn. He also resides in Valhalla, where the slain warriors are taken.

Odin's attributes are the spear Gungnir, which never misses its target, the ring Draupnir, from which every ninth night eight new rings appear, and his eight-footed steed Sleipnir. He is accompanied by the wolves Freki and Geri, to whom he gives his food for he himself consumes nothing but wine. Odin has only one eye, which blazes like the sun. His other eye he traded for a drink from the Well of Wisdom, and gained immense knowledge. On the day of the final battle, Odin will be killed by the wolf Fenrir.

He is also called Othinn, Wodan and Wotan. Some of the aliases he uses to travel icognito among mortals are Vak and Valtam. Wednesday is named after him (Wodan).

Historical sources - Odin as a man

The oldest preserved coherent account of Odin as a quasi-historical figure is preserved in Snorre's "Ynglingatal" (part of Snorre's "Heimskringla"). It presents him as a chieftain and magician from out of the East who came to be worshipped as a god.

The scholar Paul Henri Mallet built upon this story in his book Northern antiquities (1756), where he even attributes a name to the chieftain: "Sigge son of Fridulph". The name may have come from the tradition that Odin founded Old Sigtuna, and a thought that he would have named it after himself.

This story has been interpreted by current historians as a process of euhemerization; in this case trying to tell the stories of a deity unacceptable in the newly imposed Christian religion by claiming it to be the story of a man.

Historical kings

After Woden/Oden, who was worshipped as a god, we are on firmer historical ground. His various sons became the ancestors of the different Anglo-Saxon kingly lines of the Heptarchy, of which the senior line was that of Mercia, descendants of Weothulgeot. The latter's son (or grandson) Whitlæg defeated and killed Amlethus, King of the Jutes to the north of the Angles in Jutland; Amlethus much later became the inspiration for Shakespeare's Hamlet. Under Wermund the Angles' fortress at Schleswig (Hedeby) was captured by the Jutes, but was retaken by Offa who was long remembered as a great conqueror (and is often referred to as Offa of Angel to distinguish him from his descendent Offa of Mercia). Before coming to the throne Offa married the daughter of Freawine, King of the Saxons, and after becoming king secured the Angles' southern border with the Saxons along the River Eider. This Freawine, like Offa, was also descended from Woden, and through his son Wig (Offa's brother-in-law) became the ancestor of the kings of Wessex, and ultimately England.

Odin (Old Norse Odhinn, Anglo-Saxon Woden, Old High German Wodan, Woutan), in Norse mythology, king of the gods. His two black ravens, Huginn ("Thought") and Muninn ("Memory"), flew forth daily to gather tidings of events all over the world.

Oðinn (of Norse Myth), chief of the Æsir was an actual man, later divinized by the Norse [Encyclopaedea Britannica].

He was of Asaland, or Asaheim, the country east of the Tanaquisl in Asia, and the chief city in that land was called Asgaard, and it was a great place for sacrifice. He was near his death when he made himself be marked with the point of a spear, and said he was going to Godheim, and would give a welcome there to all his friends. Oðinn was buried in Swithiod (Mannheim), Sweden. Odin was burnt, and at his pile there was great splendour. It was their faith that the higher the smoke arose in the air, the higher he would be raised whose pile it was; and the richer he would be, the more property that was consumed with him [Circa 1225 A.D. Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla, or The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway (London: Norroena Society, 1907), The Ynglinga Saga].

Also called Odin of Norse Myth. He was the son of Frithuwald (of Saxon Myth) [Translated and edited by Michael Swanton, editor, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (5 Upper Saint Martins Lane, London: Phoenix Press, 2000, New Edition), pg. 16].

He was born in Åsgard, Byzantium? [Roderick W. Stuart, Royalty for Commoners: The Complete Lineage of John of Gaunt, Son of Edward III, Kings of England, and Queen Philippa (.: ., 3rd Ed., 1998), 324-62].

He was a great and very far-travelled warrior, who conquered many kingdoms, and so successful was he that in every battle the victory was on his side [Circa 1225 A.D. Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla, or The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway (London: Norroena Society, 1907), The Ynglinga Saga].

He journeyed northward to Scandanavia, and on his journey he claimed to be a god, this was to win over the Scandanavians he conquered. He is said to have journeyed through many realms - Russia, Saxony, Denmark - passing himself off as Odin and making sons kings of all the lands where he traveled. Leaving his son Skjold to be king in Denmark, Sigge travelled on to Lake Malaren in Sweden, where he built a palace and temple, reigning over all the land [Gene Gurney, Kingdoms of Europe: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ruling Monarchs from Ancient Times to the Present (One Park Ave, New York, New York 10016: Crown Publishers Inc., 1982), Sweden, pg. 480].